Second spring training start and another brutal line for Joba: 2.1 innings, 5 hits, 6 er, 3 bb. His fastball was clocked between 89-94. I am really starting to believe Joba will never be the same pitcher. The shoulder injury has definitely affected his velocity and his mechanics. I honestly don't know if he can make it as a starter or reliever anymore. I might be overreacting, but this is the same trend from last season: more hits, more walks, less strikeouts. If he keeps this up through spring training, he shouldn't make the roster. It would just be a waste of space.

Yup. Unfortunately this has been going on for more than a year now. That lost velocity doesn't look like it's coming back anytime soon.

I really think he's got to go to AAA. We babied him with the Joba rules, and now we're paying the price. I believe in Joba down the line, I just think he needs to mature and find his stuff back in the international league.

Honestly, I don't think it's even about babying at this point. He suffered a pretty major shoulder injury which completely changed him.

Unless there is a tweak they can make with his mechanics, I'm not sure there is any more velocity to find. This is now more than a year with him still searching for that velocity he lost on that night in Texas.

Results during the second week of March mean nothing. No one has reached his velocity and they are all working on hitting spots with certain pitches, not getting batters out.

I'm not saying that Joba will get back to 100 mph, but you can't judge him based on what he's done so far this year.

This post has been edited by wallypip: Mar 10 2010, 09:03 PM

enough starting him this spring...throw his ass in the bullpen today. If he still has no velocity in the pen for the rest of the spring then send him to AAA to figure out why it's gone.

I know it is the second week of spring training. But, I remember bringing this issue up last spring training on the board. People were dismissing it, believing Joba is one of those pitchers that takes till the end of spring training to gain all of his velocity. After seeing what happened last season, we all know that isn't true.

I still wouldn't go crazy about joba just yet. CC and Santana got hammered in their starts yesterday. Yes their more proven pitchers, but it's still only spring training.

CC and Johan are also, like you said, proven starters.

This is now over a year now where Joba has yet to find the velocity he once had and there are no signs it's ever coming back.

Who is that in your sig, Twist

MMA fighter Gina Carano.

You guys have a better chance of seeing me resurrected than seeing hick Joba's old velocity return.

I think Joba needs to throw a simulated game or a few bullpens. They need to work out his mechanics.

One kid on the team I'm coaching blew his shoulder out a few years ago and still pitches. He just changed his mechanics up and wasn't blown away with trying to K each batter. I think Joba needs the same. We have to get Joba into simple mechanics that benefit his arm slot, and convince him that he doesn't have to blow away each batter and just hit his spots.

I think Joba needs to throw a simulated game or a few bullpens. They need to work out his mechanics.

One kid on the team I'm coaching blew his shoulder out a few years ago and still pitches. He just changed his mechanics up and wasn't blown away with trying to K each batter. I think Joba needs the same. We have to get Joba into simple mechanics that benefit his arm slot, and convince him that he doesn't have to blow away each batter and just hit his spots.

IT

IS

SPRING

TRAINING

I agree. I say with the past injuries, Joba may very well not be giving it 100% out there.

It's a shame that we've all grown up so much. The forum is probably dead because almost everyone agrees on most topics. Aside from 122 and DON, everyone pretty much now shares the same opinions about most topics.

Politics on the other hand.....but I mean hey, that's why we're all different, to learn from each other.

Dave Eiland wanted Joba to work on busting hitters inside during that game. Why he wouldn't try to throw at his normal velocity beats me.

Because. We all know that its not good for your arm to pick up a baseball and throwing as hard as you can out of no where. It's still early. I'll give him more time before I start to judge him. I don't think anyone expected (or even hoped for) Joba to pick up the ball his first few outings and throw 98 on the gun. It was never going to happen.

He said he felt tired...he did fine at first and then exploded right? Flu have anything to do with this? I know excuses are tiring but the flu is the flu and it's earlier and he was trying a new approach...also started off alright